Copyright in the Age of User-Posted ContentPanelists to Explore Policy and Legal Challenges Created by Digital Media

WASHINGTON D.C. - With the growing popularity of sites featuring user-submitted material, copyright holders are faced with new challenges regarding control over their artistic work. Are current copyright enforcement mechanisms, such as notice-and-takedown, adequate when content can be removed one moment and reposted the next? Are claims of infringement too broad? Are new technological solutions or legislative actions needed? These and other questions will be discussed Friday, March 16th by panelists at "What Goes Up Must Come Down: Copyright and Process in the Age of User-Posted Content," an event hosted by The Progress & Freedom Foundation.

The discussion will be moderated by James DeLong, Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for the Study of Digital Property. Confirmed panelists at the event include experts in copyright law, policy and implementation. Bill Rosenblatt, President of GiantSteps Media Technology Strategies, and Managing Editor of DRMWatch, is an authority on content and digital rights management. Rosenblatt credited as an architect of the Digital Object Identifier, a standard for digital rights management. Don Verrilli, Partner at Jenner & Block LLP, is an expert on communications, first amendment and media litigation. Verrilli successfully argued the Grokster case before the Supreme Court, where it was decided that companies whose business models were dependent on illegal distribution of copyrighted material can be held liable for copyright infringement. Also joining the panel will be PFF Senior Adjunct Fellow Solveig Singleton. Singleton, contributor to PFF's Center for Intellectual Property, has drafted numerous papers on copyright law and digital rights management, most recently crafting a policy analysis on DRM in the electronic gaming industry. The complete panel rosters will be released in upcoming days.